The Legend of Icetalon
by YamiKokono
Summary: Icepaw is a cheerful apprentice. But when look-alikes and darkness collide, her world is turned upside down as all she has ever cared for is ripped away.
1. Allegiances

RiverClan:

Leader: Mosstar: Brave gray tom with silver eyes

Apprentice: Shadowpaw

Deputy: Birdflight: Light tan she-cat with creamy white swirls

Medicine Cat: Angelfur: Confused tabby she-cat

Apprentice: Tinypaw

Warriors:

Mudpelt: Dark brown tom with a grumpy personality

Apprentice: Icepaw

Longwhisker: Light tan tom with extremely long whiskers

Apprentice: Hawkpaw

Brairstump: Clumsy pale gray tom with brown streaks

Treeleaf: Silent black she-cat with one white paw

Stonetooth: Dark gray she-cat with a vicious bite

Reedwhisper: Nervous, skinny tan tom

Apprentice: Cloverpaw

Apprentices:

Icepaw: Clumsy white she-cat, excellent fighter

Hawkpaw: Tan tom with brown wavy stripes, the best hunter

Tinypaw: Small, pale gray she-cat with a stump of a tail

Cloverpaw: Light gray, almost white, pretty she-cat with a sweet personality

Shadowpaw: Tabby tom with a white underside, wild and undisciplined

Queens:

Milkpelt: Blind creamy white she-cat

Breezefur: Long haired red she-cat

Elders:

Flatnose: Black tom with a flat muzzle

Twostep: Dignified, frosty white she-cat

Greenfur: Dark orange she-cat with startling green eyes

ShadowClan:

Leader: Darkstar: Pitch black tom with dark amber eyes

Deputy: Suneyes: Dark brown tom with brilliant yellow eyes

Medicine Cat: Russetclaw: Powerful red she-cat

Apprentice: Juniperpaw

Warriors:

Thornclaw: Dark tabby tom with a resemblence to Angelfur

Apprentice: Mistlepaw

Toadfoot: Brown tom with black spots

Apprentice: Goosepaw

Redleaf: White she-cat with a marking in the shape of a leaf

Deadclaw: Mute black tom with dead, expresionless eyes

Notchear: Tabby she-cat born with notched ears

Crowwhisker: Black-gray tom with blue eyes

Apprentice: Ravenpaw

Apprentices:

Juniperpaw: Shy light tan tom

Mistlepaw: Mischevious she-cat, exact image of her father, Darkstar

Goosepaw: White tom with yellow eyes

Ravenpaw: Glossy black she-cat

Queens:

Deadwind: Gray she-cat with white paws

Rookfur: Yellow she-cat with a reddish tail

Ripplepelt: Curly-pelted brown she-cat

Elders:

Blacknose: Pure white tom with a black nose

WindClan:

Leader: Runestar: Odd-eyed black she-cat

Apprentice: Loonpaw

Deputy: Redfear: Reddish tom with a tint of black

Medicine Cat: Moonvoice: small white she-cat with a soft voice

Warriors:

Dunefur: Sandy brown tom

Apprentice: Featherpaw

Rocktail: Grey tom with a black and white tail

Apprentice: Twopaw

Grinface: Brown tom with a permanent, fairly creepy grin

Windclaw: Silent, wickedly fast blue-gray she-cat

Tallear: Gray tom with large ears

Apprentices:

Loonpaw: White-speckled black she-cat

Featherpaw: Small, soft white she-cat

Twopaw: Brown tom with two spots of white above his eye

Queens:

Brinefur: White-gray she-cat

Elders:

Deepleg: Deep, almost black brown tom

Steptail: Brown she-cat with a long tail that always seems to get stepped on

*NOTE*

ThunderClan is the current Clan


	2. Prolouge: The Lair of Dreams

Welcome. Welcome to the Lair od Dreams. It is here stories come to die. Die and fade. But I

keep them. I hold them. The stories live on through me. Look. See the walls of this cave? They

are covered in claw marks. Each one stands for a story. And look, see this rock here, in the

middle? See this long, deep scratch? This is the story I am about to tell you.

Who am I?

I am the Teller. I am the dark, the rustling of leaves. I am the water over stones. I am these

stories. And the stories are me. Let me tell you now of a story of laughter, darkness,

betrayal, love. Of look-alikes and battles and needless deaths.

Come now. Listen....

For this is the legend of Icetalon.


	3. Chapter One: The River's Edge

The wind rustled through the leaves of the willows. Icekit blinked against the soft wind rising from the river. She peered into its depths. Leaning down, she was just about to take a drink when something wet hit her in the back of the head. Icekit shrieked and spun around to see her brother, Hawkkit, laughing.

"Ha!" he shouted. "I got you, lazy furball!" Icekit snorted and leapt at her brother, pinning him to the ground.

"Lazy furball, huh?" Icekit stuck her tongue out at Hawkkit and released him. Hawkkit sprang up and tackled her. Squealing, the two kits rolled and kicked on the grassy bank next to the river.

"Icekit! Hawkkit!" a sharp call came from inside the nursery. The kits froze. Their mother, Birdflight, stepped into the sunlight. "Shush now." She studied them with amusment. "I see you'll make fine warriors one day. Icekit, you can let go of Hawkkit's ear now." Icekit spat out her brother's ear and bounced over to her mother.

"Can we please go outside the nursery?" She pleaded.

"Yeah!" chimed in Hawkkit. "We'll be good! " Birdflight mewed with laughter and bent down to give Hawkkit a lick.

"Of course you will." She turned and headed back into the nursery. Icekit watched in amusment as Hawkkit rubbed the lick of his nose.

"Ew." He said, sticking his tongue out. Icekit snorted and tapped him on the head. "C'mon, silly. Let's go."

"Okay!" Hawkkit charged into the clearing with Icekit at his tail.

"Whoa!" shouted a new voice. Hawkkit skidded to a stop, but Icekit, who had slipped on a piece of moss, barreled into the fuzzy shape ahead of her. She shrieked as she and the unfortunate apprentice bounced across the clearing in a hopeless tangle, finally stopping in a thicket of brambles. Icekit was hurled into the air, yowling. Shadowpaw, the unfortunate apprentice, sat up and spat out mouthful of white fuzz. A screaming form fell from the sky and onto his head. Icekit shook her head, dazed.

"Excuse me," came a muffled voice, "Would you mind getting off my head?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Icekit scrambled away from the thicket. Shadowpaw stood up and wobbled. He focused on Icekit and groaned.

"It's you." He said. "Why is it always you?" Icekit blushed as Hawkkit came charging up to them.

"Are you okay?"

"We're just perfect." Shaking his head, Shadowpaw trotted across the clearing to fetch the pile of moss he had dropped. "Crazy furball." He muttered, disappearing into the elder's den.A silence settled on the air.

"Well." Hawkkit said casually. "That was unexpected." Icekit blushed. Cloverpaw, a young, pretty gray apprentice, trotted up to them.

"I heard Icekit screaming!" she said breathlessly. "Are you all right?" Icekit nodded. "We're fine. Rig- Hawkkit, where are you going?" Icekit trotted after her missing brother. Cloverpaw followed. "Where are we going?" she called. Hawkkit flicked an ear in reply.

"We? I don't recall inviting you?" He scampered into a small cave on the other side of the clearing. Icekit and Cloverpaw followed. Icekit could barely squeeze through the opening. Cloverpaw couldn't at all.

"Um, guys? I think I'm stuck." She called. Icekit gasped and hared towards her. Hawkkit charged from the depths of the cave. "Oh, wow." Icekit gasped.

"Joy." said Hawkkit sarcasticly.. He sighed and addressed Cloverpaw. "Okay. To get unstuck, twist your head, and pull." Cloverpaw twisted and pulled. With a pop, she was free. Peering into the cave, she asked,

"What are you doing, anyway?"

"Adding a mark." Hawkkit replied. He raked one claw down a rock.

"What? Oof!" Icekit walked into something large…and solid. Just then, a beam of sunlight lit up the cave. A giant rock in the middle was covered in claw-marks. Icekit tilted her head to look at the top of it. "Everytime Icekit does something like what she just did, I add a claw mark." Hawkkit explained. Icekit squealed.

"You don't have to keep track!" she huffed. Cloverpaw opened her eyes in amazement.

"Are you really that clumsy, Icekit?" she asked.

"No!" Icekit said. "Well, maybe." Hawkkit rolled his eyes and squirmed outside. Icekit followed. From outside, if you didn't know where it was, it was impossible to find. "How did you find this?" she asked Hawkkit. He blushed.

"I fell in. There's another entrance behind the nursery." Turning to Cloverpaw, he added. "I'd appreciate it if you could keep this a secret. "It's kind of like my special place." Cloverpaw nodded.

"So you guys are going to be apprentices soon, right?" she asked. Icekit nodded enthusiastically. "I can't wait!" she exclaimed. Icekit suddenly nticed the camp was unusualy empty. "Hey, where is everybody?" The clearing was silent. Cloverpaw blinked."I'm not sure.""Mosstar found a Twoleg thing on our territory, so he took some warriors to investigate." Shadowpaw walked up to them. He grinned at Icekit. "Still trying to kill me, huh?" Icekit blushed."Hey, guys!" Tinypaw, the medicine cat apprentice, bounded up to them. She was short and stocky with a stump of a tail. "What's going on?""Waaaah! Lookout!" Brairstump, a young warrior with clumsiness almost rival to Icekit's, crashed into them."Yaaaah!"  
"Eek!"

"Omph!"

"Ow."

"Sorry."

The two kits, three apprentices, and the warrior where all tangled up in a heap. Brairstump grinned sheepishly at them.

"Would you guys please get off my head?!" came Shadowpaw's muffled voice.

"Oops." They all scrambled up.

"Sooooo. What's up?" Brairstump blinked. He was a young, well-muscled tom with a ginger coat and green eyes.

Hawkkit smoothed his whiskers. "Well, until you came and almost _killed us_, we were discussing apprenticeship. It should be any day now." Cloverpaw nodded."Yeah, it should. You guys are almost a big as me now." Icekit yawned.

"Well," she said, "After all, we are less than a quarter-moon apart." Tinypaw poked Brairstump.

"You are sooo clumsy!" she teased. Hawkkit rolled his eyes.

"Not as clumsy as Icekit over here!"

"Hey!" Icekit huffed, then launched herself at Hawkkit. The two kits tusseled for a few moments until Icekit had pinned Hawkkit to the ground. Brairstump nodded approvingly. "You kits are good fighters. Expecially you, Icekit." he said. Icekit blushed. Shadowpaw flicked his ear.

"You guys are getting so big, I bet your apprentice ceremony is tommorow!" he exclaimed.

"He's right." came a deep voice. Mosstar emerged from seemingly nowhere. He blinked fondly at Icekit and Hawkkit. Icekit gasped.

"Really?" Mosstar nodded.

"Icekit! Hawkkit!" came Birdflight's lowered his head.

"You'd best get back to your mother."

*

Later that night, Icekit couldn't sleep. She slowly, silently padded over to the river's

edge. The half moon hung low in the sky and no stars were out. She bent her head and the water's gleam danced over her face. For an instant, her reflection wavered. In her place was a huge warrior, battled-scarred and tough. Icekit blinked in surprise. Then the image was gone. A cloud covered the moon, and Icekit, suddenly nervous, scampered back to the nursery. Hawkkit groaned softly as she padded past him. Icekit closed her eyes, and a wave of darkness washed over her, dragging her into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter Two: The Training Begins

"Let all those of this clan come together for a Clan Meeting!" The call rang out sharply against the chill dawn air. Icekit opened her eyes sleepily.

"What's going on?" she yawned. Hawkkit was fairly exploding with contained energy.

"Silly!" he said. "Our apprentice ceremony, remember?" Icekit, who had began to doze again, snapped awake. "How could I forget!" she sprang up. Icekit and Hawkkit bounded towards the nursery entrance. Suddenly, a paw cut them off. Birdflight seized Hawkkit.

"Oh no you don't. Not looking like _that_!" she began to groom Hawkkit's ears.

"Mom!" he struggled. "You're messing up my fur!" Birdflight purred in amusment.

"Go on, you two. You'll be late." She rose to her feet and led the two kits to the Rockpile. The jumble of rocks was worn smooth with age and the pawprints of many leaders. Mosstar sat upon the tallest rock, surveying his Clan with pride.

"The time has come to name two new apprentices. Come here, my kits." he gestured with his paw to a smooth, long rock on the ground underneath where Mosstar sat. The two kits gazed up in excitment.

"From this day foward, this kit shall be be known as Hawkpaw." Mosstar turned his gaze to Longwhisker, a light tan tom. "Longwhisker, the time has come for you to train an apprentice. Train him well." Longwhisker, with an excited gleam in his eye, stepped foward to touch noses with Hawkpaw.

"And until she earns her warrior name, the kit shall be known as Icepaw. Mudpelt, you are a good mentor and a great warrior. Pass on your skills to Icepaw." Icepaw scanned the crowd excitedly. She felt her heart sink a little when she spotted Mudpelt. The scarred tom wore an unreadable expresion. _He looks grumpy_. Mudpelt rose to his paws and touched noses with Icepaw.

"Icepaw! Hawkpaw! Icepaw! Hawkpaw!" the Clan cheered. Icepaw felt a wave of pride. _I'm an apprentice now!_

"This is the lake. See that island out there?" Hawkpaw nodded. "Thats where we have our Gatherings. There should be one soon, it's already a quarter moon. Maybe you'll get to go, huh?" Longwhisker chattered away about the island. Hawkpaw found his attention wandering. There was something in the distance.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked Longwhisker. His mentor squinted.

"Hmm. Looks like Twolegs." Hawkpaw watched in disbelief as some Twoleg kits ran and jumped into the water. They shouted and shriek, making loud splashes.

"They can swim?" he asked, incredulous. Longwhisker nodded.

"Noisy, aren't they? Come on, lets go visit the rest of the territory."

Icepaw watched the frog carefully. The thing sat on a leaf, croaking. She lay perfectly still. Suddenly, Icepaw gave a mighty leap, land just behind the frog. Croaking in alarm, it hurriedly hopped away. Icepaw scrambled after it. She slammed her paw down. Miss!

_Slam!_ Miss!

_Slam!_ Miss!

_Slam!_ Ah-ha!

She picked the frog up in her mouth and trotted over to Mudpelt. _Well, it may not have been dignified and graceful, but at least I caught it. _Mudpelt gave her a critical look.

"Not bad for your first time. What you need to remember about frogs is that they are very fast, and can be very loud. Now, lets try mice." Icepaw fairly beamed. _He thinks I wasn't too bad! _

"Okay, Mudpelt!"

Icepaw lay in her nest, exhausted after a long day of training. Sleeping near the front of the apprentices den, she could just see the Rockpile, and above it, Mosstars den. _I'm going to be the best warrior ever,_ she thought sleepily. _And maybe someday, a leader._


End file.
